Jinx444's:The Reckoning
by Jinx444
Summary: Chloe, Derek, Simon, Tori, and Andrew have made it to a temporary safe-house, and need to find their next move. Little bit of romance too! I know, I'm bad at summaries . Disclaimer: I do not own Darkest Powers that would be cool though! Hope you like!
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

I let out a sleepy sigh as a large, mansion-looking house came into view. I felt my eyes grow wide as I slowly realized that was where we were going.

"W-w-wait…that's kind of a b-big house…it d-doesn't look all that d-discreet…" I stuttered as we got closer.

"Don't worry. It's land that my grandma owned." Simon said, squeezing my hand a little tighter to comfort me. "She was planning on living there once she got all of her finances in order. She passed away a couple of years back, and she left this land to dad, but we never actually moved in, just visited for a little while. The only way they'd know about it is if they looked through her will." I instantly wondered if I would see her ghost there. After all of the spirits I'd seen in the past days, I didn't really feel like seeing another one, even if it was Simon's grandmother.

"She didn't die here though," Derek said, as if reading my mind "I don't think you'll be seeing her."

"Of course. We can't go anywhere that might make Chloe uncomfortable in the slightest." Tori interjected.

"Tori…" Simon started, but I cut him short with a 'don't worry about it' look.

"Ok. There's no one living near here, but we shouldn't be out in the open if we can help it." Andrew said as he parked the car. We all got out and stretched for a few seconds.

"What are you doing?" Simon asked as Derek immediately walked to the front of the car. I gasped as he bent down and tugged at the front license plate twice before it came off in his hands.

"The Edison Group could've already reported this truck stolen. We can't do that much about it now, but we can keep them from identifying the car as long as they don't come very close." Derek put the plate into Andrew's outstretched hand. Andrew didn't even seem to meet his eyes. Derek hesitated only for a moment before going around to the back and doing the same thing.

"Let's go, just in case." Andrew said, run walking up to the house, all of us on his heels, trying to keep up, despite our sore muscles.

Once we had gotten into the house, I spent a little bit of time looking up at the high ceiling and old paintings before Simon walked up the steps to where Tori and I would be sleeping. Tori pushed her way through and into the room first, leaving Simon and I alone in the hallway. He stared into my eyes for a moment before finally letting go of my hand. I felt an awkward emotion as we just stood there. I realized that he had started leaning in to kiss me, his eyes narrowing into slits.

For some reason, my eyes darted around the hallway, trying to find something to redirect his attention. Thankfully, Derek walked up the stairs and turned our way. His eyes met mine for a split second before he looked down at the floor, as if ashamed of interrupting Simon and I. Simon's eyes followed mine until he noticed his foster brother. He coughed awkwardly as Derek opened the door nearest the staircase and disappeared into the room.

"Goodnight." Simon said. I heard a note of disappointment, and maybe even annoyance in his voice. I scolded myself as he vanished into the room that Derek had just gone into, shutting the door gently behind him. Why hadn't I just kissed him? He was sweet, funny, creative, and attractive. Everything every boy I had ever had a crush on was. I really wanted to kiss him, but something had held me back.

I shook my head clear and walked into the room, shutting the door gently behind me and realizing that Tori had already laid down and looked asleep. I quietly flopped down on the bed nearest the window. I pulled off my gray sweatshirt, which was still covered in Derek's dried blood. The memory of Liam and Ramon flooded back into my head, and I threw the sweatshirt to the side, not wanting to think about them right now. I decided to just leave my jeans on, just in case we needed to make a really fast get away in the morning, though I doubted it. I turned and clicked the green lamp off, letting the darkness wrap around me.


	2. Chapter 2

I tried and tried to sleep, but just couldn't. I didn't know if it was because of the new environment, because of the vision of aunt Lauren, or because of the week I had spent sleeping only when I had the time, and having to watch my back all of the other times.

I didn't really know my way around this huge house very well, but I thought it was worth exploring. At least it would be better than staring at the white plaster ceiling and listening to Tori snoring in her sleep.

So, I gently rolled the cold doorknob and creaked the door open. Thankfully, Tori's a pretty deep sleeper, and she didn't even flinch. I made my way to the end of the long hallway before I got a glimpse of movement out of the corner of my eye. I whipped around in time to see a bald, elderly man coughing into a black and white checkered handkerchief. As he lifted his face away from the cloth, I saw blood splattered across it. He coughed again, yet made no sound. That was a signal that he wasn't really there, just his memory. I shivered as I remembered the girl in the woods being murdered, and I quickly turned back around and started down the staircase.

It was pitch black and I found myself nearly stumbling a few times. I could just barely see the outline of the old dining table I had passed, yet not really paid much attention to only a few hours earlier. As I squinted into the darkness, I lost my grip on the smooth mahogany railing. I let out a small yelp as I prepared myself to hit the stone floor.

Suddenly, I felt two large, warm hands grasp me right below my shoulder and steady me on my feet. I recognized Derek's touch. I breathed a sigh of relief as my toes gripped the cool floor. I tried to wriggle out of his grasp, but he held me firmly. I looked up into his green glowing eyes until I saw a glimpse of recognition and her released me.

"Looks like you scared me for a change." Derek chuckled, his piercing green eyes staring down at me.

"Me? Scare you?" I tried to act casual, though I knew he was, yet again, in only his boxer shorts. Even though it seemed to become a pattern, it still made my cheeks redden.

"What are you doing down here?" I asked as I felt along the wall for a light switch.

"Oh, nothing." Derek said with a deep yawn. I knew that when anyone said they were doing nothing at two in the morning, they were lying.

"Are you changing again?" I asked, concern now creeping into my voice. I knew that, though he'd probably deny it, he really needed someone to be with him when he was going through that.

"No, no. I just…couldn't sleep. Too many thoughts. Besides, someone needs to be up to stand guard." He said, turning to his left and walking towards a white refrigerator with a light-up icemaker. The light looked eerie, but I was glad to actually be able to see where I was going.

"C'mon, Derek. When was the last time you got some sleep?" I tried to coax him, but it was all in vain.

"That doesn't matter. I'll be fine." He answered dismissively as he opened the fridge and started looking through its contents. As he did, the light showed on his tan face, and I realized that he really wasn't as ugly as I had thought when I first met him. His strong chin complimented his high cheekbones, and those eyes…there was just something about those eyes…

"So, what's keeping you up? You didn't see or hear another ghost again, did you?" Derek's deep, husky voice snapped me out of my thoughts.

"No. I guess I was just starting to get used to sleeping in forests and on buses." I lied, tucking my cold hands under my armpits. He probably had enough on his mind without me complaining about my little ghost scenarios.

"So…were you thinking about our next move?" I asked, walking a little bit closer.

"Huh?" Derek grunted as if caught off guard. He turned around with a gallon of milk in his right hand.

"You said you were thinking. Were you thinking about a new plan or something?" I repeated.

"Oh." He shrugged as he closed the door to the fridge. "No, just…thinking." He got a glass down from one of the wooden cabinets and started filling it with milk. He grabbed a second one and made a motion asking if I wanted one too. I nodded and he filled the second one.

"You can tell me. My mom always used to say that problems can come to light if you just share them with someone else." I said as he handed me the glass. I didn't really expect him to share, but I thought it was worth a shot.

"Nah, it's not really a problem." He said, putting the jug back and taking a sip from his glass. I watched and tried not to laugh out loud as his Adam's apple bounced up and down with every gulp he took. "What color are you planning on changing your hair to this time?" he was obviously trying to change the subject, and I decided I'd leave him alone.

"I'm not all too worried about it." I said. Derek leaned back on the counter, studying me.

"Are you sure? Tori's probably gonna get back on your case again." Derek rolled his eyes. I took a sip of my own milk before answering.

"I don't let her get to me." I said.

"You're a lot better at that than I am." He said, slowly sloshing his remaining milk around in the bottom of his cup. There was silence for a little while, and I almost considered going back up to bed when Derek finally started talking again.

"I was thinking about how Andrew looked at me." He said, his voice cutting through the dark silence. I was startled by the answer to my question I thought I would never get.

"You mean back in the woods?" I asked, though I already knew the answer.

"Yeah. He stared at me like he was scared of me or something. This from a man I've known since I was five." He shook his head as if to blur the image of Andrew's startled face from his head. "I know I'm…bigger now, but…it's still me."

"He knows that. He was just…surprised." I said, walking over and setting my now empty milk glass next to his. Derek sat for a moment in thought before scooting a few inches away from me. "What?" I asked, wondering if I smelled weird or something.

"I—I don't have any deodorant on right now." He mumbled, turning his head away. In the dim light given off by the fridge's icemaker, I could see his face turn pink. I fought the urge to giggle. I didn't think Derek was embarrassed about anything, let alone something that wasn't his fault.

"Don't worry about it. It's not that bad." Ok, it had been pretty bad, but I wasn't going to kick him when he was down. "Anyway, unless you count that scrub down you gave me, I haven't had a bath in days." I said with a warm smile. He chuckled slightly.

"Not that bad, huh? Tell that to some of the people I went to school with back in Albany." He shook his head.

"Oh, please. Body odor is not really that mortifying compared to some of the things that I've done." I said.

"Haha, sure." He said disbelievingly.

"I'm serious!" I thought for a second before continuing. "Like this one time I was with this guy I liked and my friend Kari. Kari told a joke, and I was so nervous, I started laughing so hard I wet my pants! I never lived that down." I said. Derek gave yet another one of his throaty laughs. "Ok, now you tell me one." I said, starting to feel a much lighter mood come on.

"Tell you one what?" he asked, pretending like he didn't know what I was talking about.

"Horror stories of course." I said. When he turned away and started walking towards the front door, I followed him. "C'mon, I told you mine! It's your turn." I pestered playfully.

"I'm gonna have to refer you to Simon on stuff like that." He answered.

"C'mon, I won't laugh, I promise. Just tell me--"

"There's nothing to tell, ok?" He finally snapped at me. We looked at each other for a moment before he turned away and leaned his left arm against the glass door that looked out on the front of the house. I was silent for a minute as I felt the old, secretive Derek crawling back.

"I'm sorry." I finally said. He merely gave a shrug in response.

"It's no big deal. I don't need a girl to make me happy. I have Simon, that's enough for me." He said as his eyes locked on a large oak tree outside of the house.

"So…you've never even kissed a girl?" I asked. I saw him wince at the personal question, and I instantly regretted asking it.

"No." he said. I suspected to hear venom in his voice, but he said it as if it was a question on a test.

"That was out of line…if it makes you feel any better, I haven't really gone any farther than the holding hands stage." I apologized. He looked at me for a moment before grunting and turning back to the window.

"Simon is really crazy about you." Derek said after yet another dark silence. I was startled by the sudden change in subject. When I didn't answer, he kept talking. "I think it's because you're not like the other girls he's been with. You're not so shallow, you don't whine about anything if you can help it, you actually care about other people... and Lord knows you're stubborn." Derek rolled his eyes and gave a lop-sided smile, showing off one of his fang teeth. "He usually goes for girls like Tori. Mean, but pretty." I slightly shuddered as I imagined Tori in his arms.

"Sorry by the way." He said, snapping my bizarre vision from my head.

"For what?" I asked. If anyone should've been sorry, it should've been me for being so nosy.

"Walking in on you and Simon. I didn't mean to…interrupt." He said, his slight smile morphing into a scowl.

"It wasn't your fault…I wasn't really ready to go that far anyway." I admitted. Derek's eyebrows rose, and then knitted together.

"Not ready? What's that supposed to mean?" he inquired.

"Well…Simon's sweet and all, but…I just feel like I don't know him well enough yet to want to…" my voice trailed off as the half-moon came out behind the clouds, bathing both of us in a white light. "Don't tell him I said anything, ok?" I said, now worrying what Simon would say if he knew that his feelings for me weren't completely mutual yet.

"Don't worry about it. It's not my business anyway." He breathed in deeply. As he inhaled, his chest seemed to soak in the light from the moon. "The sun's going to start coming up soon. You might want to get some sleep while you still can." I nodded in response and made my way up the stairs.

I fell asleep just as soon as my head hit the pillow. I dreamed of Derek fighting Liam, of how he held my shoulders and pushed me behind him when the two werewolves started threatening me. But, most of all, I dreamed of the tender glint in his eyes that he had shown as he wiped away Liam's blood from my chin.


	3. Chapter 3

I woke up the next morning to the muffled sound of water running. I sat up, dazed, and realized that it was just someone in the next room taking a shower. I threw off my covers, stood up beside the bed, and stretched. I glanced at Tori's bed, empty. It was probably her in the shower. I started walking towards the window when there was a knock at the door.

"Come in." I called, now turning my attention to the door handle as it turned. In the few split seconds that elapsed between the door opening I hoped it was Derek. Just to be sure he wasn't mad at me about last night.

"Good morning." Simon said cheerfully as half of his body leaned in the doorway.

"Hi Simon." I said, trying to disguise my disappointment. He smiled sweetly at me and let himself the rest of the way into the room.

"Have you seen Derek?" he asked as he walked forward a few steps.

"Are you sure it's not him in the shower?" I asked.

"Yeah, I saw Tori go in there a little while ago."

"I haven't seen him. Not since about two." I said, my eyebrows furrowing together. "He didn't mention anything to you about needing to go anywhere?" Simon shook his head.

"No…wait, why were you with him at two in the morning?" he questioned.

"I couldn't sleep last night, so I came down the stairs and, there he was." I replied. "It wasn't for very long. I came back up and went to bed not long after."

"Hmm." Simon remarked non-chalantly before smiling back up at me. "I'm sure he's fine… oh, and I got something clean for you to put on." Simon said as he pulled a dark pink sweatshirt from behind his back and tossed it to me.

"Thanks. Where did you--?"

"It was my grandma's. I found it in the closet in my room. I guess she left it here or something. She was pretty small, so it might fit you ok." I saw a mist of sadness glaze over his blue eyes. "Are you ready for breakfast?" he asked, covering the grief I had just seen with a smile.

"Pretty much. Just give me a minute to clean up, and I'll be right down." I grinned back at him as he did a little salute and walked out, closing the door behind him.

* * *

I was surprised at how hungry I really was. I scarfed down the sausage and eggs that Andrew served as if my life depended on it. I didn't realize it until I was finished, and I saw that Simon had only taken a few bites of his scrambled eggs. I felt me cheeks get red as I felt Tori's eyes on my now empty plate. I prepared myself for her usual insults, but none came.

I took the plate to the sink and rinsed it off. I pulled back the small curtain that covered the kitchen window. "Hey, the truck's gone!" I exclaim, dropping the sponge I had been using.

"What?!?" I heard Andrew's deep voice cry out as he stood and came over to the window. He stared out at the empty gravel driveway in disbelief.

"It must've been wolf-boy. He probably needed some more deodorant to cover up that horrible smell." Tori said. Her mean streak seemed to be coming back. Simon gave her a deadly glance before getting up and joining us in the kitchen.

"He must've had a good reason for taking it…" Simon's voice trailed off, and I walked back over to the table, trying to think of the reason Derek must have had to just take off like that. Just as I was about to suggest we look around for a note or something he might've left, there were three sharp raps coming from the back door.

We all exchanged bewildered looks, and none of us made a move towards the door.

"It's Derek." I heard the familiar, husky voice call from behind the door. Simon breathed out and started walking towards the door.

"Wait…It could be a trick." Andrew warned, but Simon had already opened the door, allowing Derek to come barging in.

"Where's the car?" Tori asked as soon as she caught a glimpse of Derek's large form.

"It's gone." He answered simply, rolling up the sleeves of his deep blue sweatshirt. "What do you mean gone dog-breath?" Tori asked, standing up threateningly. I saw Andrew and Simon trade shocked looks.

"Don't call me that." Derek growled. His voice was calm, but I could sense a little bit of venom in his words. "The radio started going off last night, and I heard someone on the other line talking about some tracking signal they were getting from the truck." He answered. "Getting rid of it probably got them off out trail for the most part, but we should probably get out of here sometime soon."

"How are we supposed to do that now that the truck's gone?" Tori whined.

"All I know is that we had to get rid of that thing, so that's what I did." Derek said, walking to Andrew. "You said you'd been looking for dad. How far have you gotten? Any leads?"

"No, nothing. But Derek, you really should've told us about…" Andrew said, and Simon started making signs with his hands, gesturing for me to go outside with him. I glanced at Derek and Andrew before making my way over towards Simon and out the door. He closed the door silently behind us.

"I can't stand to watch people bicker." Simon rolled his eyes and grinned at me. I gave him a small smile as he laced his fingers with mine and started walking through the long grass and towards a little picnic table.

"Aren't you at all afraid of being out in the open?" I asked, my happiness now turning into concern.

"Nah. Like Derek said, we probably won't have to worry about the Edison Group. You can put your guard down for a little while." He said as he sat on the iron bench of the picnic table. I sat beside him and looked around at the beautiful trees. I breathed in the piney scent of the needles that were dropping around their trunks. I saw Simon out of the corner of my eye. His smile had faded, and had turned into a look of contentment as he stared at the side of my face.

"So you guys came here a lot?" I asked, hoping to break him out of his trance.

"Not a whole lot, but my grandma would spend some time here every now and then, just to get away from the city for a little while. Sometimes Derek and I would help her rake some of the pine needles, or clean out the gutters and stuff like that." Simon answered, though his hypnotized look didn't change, and it didn't really sound like he was paying much attention to what he was saying. I finally took a deep breath and willed myself to turn my face to him.

"I'm sorry." I said, and Simon sat up a little bit straighter.

"What for?" he asked.

"I just…I'm n-not r-ready. For…you know." I tried my hardest to keep my voice steady, but to no avail.

"I've only been wanting a kiss…" he looked down at his hands sheepishly. "I guess I'm probably pushing it too much. I'm--"

"No, no. That's not what I mean." I sighed and tried to think of what to say next. "It's just…with everything happening…I'm just…overwhelmed. My life has change drastically in the last days, and I know that it's never going to be the same." Simon continued to stare at his hands for a minute. Finally, he looked up at me with a goofy half-smile.

"Yeah. I guess I never thought of it that way…maybe when this is all over and done with, I can finally ride off into the sunset with you." I giggled shyly and looked into his eyes. Simon really was genuine. That much I knew.

"Well, I think I might go back inside and see if Derek and Andrew stopped fighting." He said, standing up and jolting me from my thoughts. He walked a few feet towards the house, then looked around when I didn't answer. "You coming?" I shook my head.

"You go ahead. I just need to…think for a little while." I called to him. He shrugged and continued on his way. I waited to hear the door close before I took another look around. I was thinking about what to do about my aunt Lauren. How could everyone be so sure about her not being dead? How do they know that I didn't really see her ghost? What should I do to find out? Would trying to summon her be a good idea? Or might I shove another spirit back into their corpse?

All of the questions buzzed around in my head like bees in a hive, and I felt a slight headache coming on. I jumped when I heard the back door slam. I instantly looked towards the sound to see Derek. His face looked solemn, and he took long strides to the left of the house.


	4. Chapter 4

"Derek! What's wrong? Where are you going?" I shouted at him, but simply ignored me. He looked determined, but on what? I decided the only way to find out was to follow him. As least if I did that and he got into some kind of trouble, I might be able to get him out of it.

I had to jog after him, since his long legs carried him much farther than mine did. I screeched at him a few more times to stop or slow down, but, yet again, he pretended not to hear me. It seemed like an eternity of trying to follow his curving path through the thick underbrush before he even began to slow down.

"What?" he demanded sharply, turning his head back so that he could see me through one eye.

"Where the heck do you think you're going?" I demanded as I caught up with him. I tried not to let him see me pant from the long jog. He didn't seem like he was out of breath at all.

"I don't know. I'm just ticked off right now, ok?" he said, walking a few steps before leaning backwards against an oak tree.

"And so you decided to run out into the woods? Wasn't that where the Edison Group caught us last time?" I yelled a little louder than I meant it to come out. Derek's only reaction was his head rolling back, his eyes staring into the branches of the tree. "Sorry, that was an outburst," I apologized "so what happened?"

"Well, to put it simply, Andrew thinks I'm some animal because of what I did to the truck, Simon got mad at him, and Tori was being…" his voice trailed off into the cool wind.

"The queen of darkness." I finished for him. He smirked slightly. "What did you do to the truck that was so bad?" I asked.

"I pushed it into a lake over in the next town." He said, "What else was I supposed to do?" I thought about it for a minute. That did seem like the way for him to do it, that way the Edison Group wouldn't have been looking in the town nearest us. "They all thought it was a bad idea. They thought that I should've waited for them to get up and find some other way. Yeah, right. When you're in danger, you have to act fast, not just wait around for someone else to come and do the work for you." His angry words seemed to echo through the trees.

"I think you did the right thing." I said. I really did. The Edison Group might've been surrounding the house by the time everybody else woke up.

"Thanks." He said, billowing out a gust of air as he did so. He reached up and pulled his fingers through his dark hair, and I realized that his forehead was drenched in sweat.

"Derek, do you have another fever?" I asked worriedly. I walked closer and felt his cheek with the fingers of my left hand. It felt like one of those straightening irons that were almost ready to use, and I could feel the heat radiating off of his body.

"I guess." He shrugged. With that, the tendons in his left arm convulsed, and he wrapped the fingers of his right hand around it to steady it until it stopped wriggling. When it finally subsided, I found myself with my hand still on his cheek. He looked down into my eyes and I longed to…I really didn't really know what I was so badly wanting to do. He touched my wrist gently, and I felt my whole body tingle.

Without warning, Derek let out an anguished groaned and I tried to catch him as he began to collapse, grunting in pain. I couldn't support his weight, but I did manage to help him get to his hands and knees.

"This shouldn't be happening…" he managed to utter through his clenched teeth.

"It's ok, it's ok. I'm still here. You don't know that this isn't all natural." I comforted, but it obviously didn't help his thoughts. I felt my heart pounding in my chest, but I knew I couldn't let him see that I was scared too.  
"They did something, Chloe." He panted and then spewed out some of the contents of his stomach into a nearby bush. I attempted to keep my nose from wrinkling at the sickly smell. "It can't be natural to go through all this pain for no reason. I didn't even have much notice this time." He grunted, his spine beginning to jut like a cat's does when it hisses. I squatted down to his level and calmly put my small hand over his large one.

"I'm here." I repeated in a whisper, staring at his face as it twisted in pain. His eyes were shut tightly, and his teeth where gnashing together. Suddenly, his emerald eyes opened and a combined look of surprise, confusion, and relief filled them. We sat there a while like that, Derek's pupils locked on absolutely nothing at all, waiting for another episode.

"I—I think it's over." He coughed and gulped as he swept his hair away from his wet forehead.

"We can't be sure. All those times when I thought it was over in the forest, and--"

"Chloe, it's ok. It's over for now. I just know." He panted, flipping over on his back and laying his hand across his stomach. He stared up into the branches, and I saw his stare lock on a small squirrel as it leaped though the canopy. I didn't say anything as he ripped his soaked white t-shirt off. He needed to cool off after his extreme fever.

"What did they do to me?" he asked rhetorically. All I could do was shake my head. I tried lying down in the pine needles with him, but I guess his tough skin protected him more than mine did. I winced slightly at the sharp stings in my left side, but I stayed where I was, casually holding up my head with my left hand.

"I'm just…I don't know what I am anymore. Maybe that's why Andrew doesn't trust me… maybe he can sense how confused I am." He exhaled before turning his head towards me. "I'm sorry. I'm talking about my problems when you have plenty of your own. You're the one that's been doing all of the comforting. Thanks for that."

I felt my cheeks flush as he turned his whole body to face mine, holding his head the same way I was mine. I nervously fidgeted, putting my arm down and balancing on my elbow. I didn't even realize that I was leaning in to kiss him until it was too late for me to pull back.


	5. Chapter 5

My lips lightly touched his, and it felt as if my soul started doing back flips. Though my eyes were closed, I could feel his green pupils enlarge from shock. As I retreated, I prepared myself for what was coming next—whatever that would be. I nearly let out a cry when he laid his hand gently against my cheek, pulling me towards him for another kiss. This time felt even better than the last.

It wasn't like one of those make-out sessions you see in movies. We didn't open our mouths or do any of that French kissing stuff. It was just our lips coming together, our noses snuggled side-by-side. It seemed to last forever. It seemed as if we were the only people in the world. It felt so right. Suddenly, Derek removed his hand quickly, as if my cheek had burnt him. I looked up at him as he scrambled to his feet; still clumsy from the energy it took for him to go through his partial change.

"D-Derek, you have to r-rest. At least f-for a little while—" I attempted to say, but he was already reaching down for his shirt.

"This is wrong…you and Simon--you're good together." he seemed to be thinking out loud, as if he was trying to convince himself more than me.

"Derek, listen. You need to sit down and—" he didn't even seem to hear me.

"C'mon. We need to get back before they start thinking the Edison Group got us or something." He said, starting back the way we came as if nothing had happened. I got up and ran to catch up with him, but it was no use. He was far ahead, and I knew he didn't have it in mind to slow down.

* * *

Derek bolted up the small concrete steps and back into the house, not even bothering to leave the door open for me. I panted and closed the door behind me before trying to follow him up the stairs, but was caught off guard by Simon taking a hold of my wrist, holding me back. I turned my head towards him quickly, and saw the worry in his eyes.

"What happened?" he asked softly. I looked into his face, and I wanted to tell him. I was tempted to tell him, I didn't want to lie to someone who had been so nice to me, who had been such a good friend. But I couldn't.

"Nothing, really." I said, thinking fast to come up with a believable story. "Derek just came out of the house all angry, and we talked for a little while. I tried to cheer him up but…you know." I was getting to be a much better liar—not even one stutter that time.

"Yeah…it takes some practice to cheer him up." Simon said, but his voice was still full of concern. "I'll go talk to him." With that, he headed for the stairs, his spiky blonde hair seeming to bob with every step. Seeing nothing else to do, I sat down at the dining table next to Tori.

"Where'd Andrew go?" I asked.

"He went upstairs—he said he was going to go get something." Tori answered robotically, then letting out a long, miserable sigh.

"What's wrong?" I asked out of instinct. I instantly regretted it.

"Why would you care? Don't pretend that you're my friend and want to help me, because you don't. Besides, Simon's out of the room so you can drop your little 'I'm a little good girl' act." Tori fumed, standing up from the table and bringing her plate that was still half-full of eggs to the counter. I was quiet for a minute, trying to think of what to say next, but what was the use? No matter what I said or did, Tori was just going to find some way to twist it into what she thought I was doing. So, I let her walk sullenly up the steps, leaving me alone in the dining room.

Seeing nothing else to do, I walked over to the glass door leading out into the front yard where Derek had been last night. Derek…who would've known I'd go for him? I guessed I should've seen the signs. The way my gut got all jumpy when he showed any kind of appreciation, how I blushed whenever he took his shirt off, how his protective grasp always made me feel safe, how even though I'd only known him for a week, I felt like I could talk to him about everything in the world and not need to care...

"What are you thinking about?" I was disrupted from my thoughts by a familiar soft voice behind me.

"Hi Liz. I didn't think you'd be able to find me." I said as I turned around to look at her. She looked the same as she had the first time I'd seen her ghost, even down to the little giraffe socks. She sat on the table, swinging her legs like a little five-year-old girl.

"I have my ways." She said mysteriously. I didn't push her on the subject; I had too much on my mind to worry about.

"How was your family?" I asked, remembering how she had been planning on visiting her mom and brother.

"Their all good…" she said longingly "I just wish they would've been able to see me." I nodded and looked at the ground. I couldn't even comprehend going to visit my dad and never even being able to talk or reach out to him. "But don't change the subject, Chloe." She said mischievously, her sadness suddenly turning into playfulness. "What where you thinking so hard about?"

"It's nothing." I said automatically. I thought about telling her for a minute, but decided that I'd need to find a place where no one else could hear me if I wanted to tell her. "I'll tell you later if we have some extra time." Liz pouted slightly, but she didn't ask again.

"What happened to your hair?" she asked after a minute, and I reached back to feel the black-dyed shag that now covered my head.

"Had to get a disguise. Derek picked out the color." Now just saying his name made me tingle inside. There must be something wrong with me.

"No wonder it's so dreadful." She said, rolling her eyes "No offense."

"None taken."

"Do you guys have a next move?"

"No, not really." We just looked at each other for a minute, as if the answer to all of our problems were written on our faces. We were jolted from our thoughts by violent banging at the front door.


	6. Chapter 6

It sounded like a stampede as Andrew, Simon, and Derek rushed down the stairs together. Once they got to my level, they all looked at each other to see what their next move should be. Another loud bang echoed through the now silent house. My fear must've showed in my face more than I wanted it to, because Simon walked over to me and held my hand tightly. I appreciated the gesture, but I couldn't help but feel guilty as Simon's fingers interlocked with my own.

It was so quiet that even Tori's light footsteps seemed to be crashing down the stairs as she finally got down to the first floor. Derek shot a warning glance her way before lifting one of his large fingers to his lips. He was the one who actually had the courage to go up to the door. He walked slowly, as if one sound would cause the door to come crashing down. He looked through the peephole. I held my breath and waited for his next reaction. I was relieved when his large, tense shoulders relaxed. He turned around, a look of confusion on his face.

"It's Rae." He whispered, though we could all hear him. I felt my brow furrow and then rise.

"Don't open it. She's the one who ratted us out to the Edison Group. They probably sent her as bait." I said, trying to keep my voice quiet, even though it made me angry just to think about the traitor.

"Then what should we do?" Tori whispered from the beginning of the steps. None of us answered, and a sizzle was the next sound heard. Derek backed up quickly and we all stared at the door, open-mouthed, as a hole burned right through it, revealing Rae's cinnamon-colored fingers. As the hole expanded, Rae reached in and gripped the door handle, turning the lock and letting herself in.

I guess Dr. Davidoff had shown her a little bit more about being a fire-demon. Burning a hole through a door was a pretty big step from someone who had spent almost an hour trying to light a match with her fingertips.

She looked the same as I had talked to her last—even down to the angry expression. She glared at us for only a second before the burn of anger left her eyes and her face took on a sympathetic expression.

"I know none of you really want to see me right now, but the only reason I'm here is to try and bring all of you to your senses." She took a deep breath and I eyed her bulging right pocket suspiciously. Not seeming to notice my stare, she continued.

"The Edison Group knows you're here, and they just want to help us. That's all that they ever wanted to do. They need you to come back so--"

"So they can continue experimenting on us like lab rats!?!" I burst out. I hadn't meant to say anything, but it felt so good to get my thoughts out.

"They need you to come back so they can reverse all that's already happened." Rae finished, staring at me. "They realized that something went wrong with what they were giving Derek, and probably you guys." She took a step towards Derek, whose face was blank. "Derek. Something weird has been going on with you, hasn't it?" she asked. Derek didn't have answer, the look in his eyes told everything. She took yet another step closer to him. I glanced at Tori who eyed me in return. My eyes flashed to Rae and back to Tori, who followed my glance. Thankfully, she nodded to show she knew where I was going with this.

"They know what you've been going threw. You need to come back so they can give you medication to reverse it before it ends up hurting you—or someone else." She said, and I saw Derek wince slightly, as if he pictured the crippled boy in his head. Rae reached out her hand as if she expected Derek to take it and let her lead him to the Edison Group. So cliché. I would've thought they'd give her a better act.

"Now, Tori!" I yelled, and with an exaggerated flick of her wrist, Tori sent a spell flying at Rae. Rae had only just started to look around when it hit her, knocking her violently into the wall to her left. Derek gazed down at her dazedly, and, despite her betrayal, I felt the need to rush to her side. She had been my friend at one time, and I still cared a little bit about her health. Once he shook his head clear, Derek knelt down beside me and grasped Rae's motionless wrist.

"She's fine." He said, clearing his throat. I noticed that he was staying as far away from me as he could while checking her pulse. I looked at Rae's face and saw a trickle of blood come down from her forehead.

"What are we going to do?" I asked, trying to lean Rae against the wall.

"They obviously know where we are now, so we need to leave as soon as possible." Derek said sternly as he stood up and made his way towards the staircase.

"What about Rae?" Simon asked, walking over and helping me pick Rae up and move her to a nearby chair.

"What about her?" Derek called back as he made his way up the steps.

"You mean you just want to leave her here?" Andrew said, and I watched him think slightly about the idea before shrugging, as if he had to think about it for a second before deciding it was a good plan.

I hadn't even thought about just leaving her here, though it was obviously the best thing to do. We couldn't really take her with us, for the fear of her getting away and telling the Edison Group where we were headed…wherever that was. The only other alternatives would be to dump her somewhere or…

I guess I looked troubled, because for the second day Simon took my hand. I smiled faintly up at him. I knew it was a fake smile, but it was all that I could muster as my thoughts spun around in my head like the tea-cup ride at a county fair. Even though it was fake, it must've fooled Tori because she cleared her throat a little louder than necessary and Simon let go. I sighed awkwardly before heading up the steps to get my sweatshirt. It was already time for us to leave our temporary safe house.


	7. Chapter 7

I felt myself shivering from anxiety as we made our way through the woods. How did Rae find us? How did she learn to use her powers so good so quickly? These questions and many more buzzed around in my head as I tried to keep my pace with the group. I almost ran into Tori's back when Derek stopped sharply and sniffed the air. He turned his head to the right, and then the left before grunting and moving on.

There were several times that I tripped over a tree root and fell forward, trying to grab the back of Tori's shirt to keep me upright. Every time she responded with a cold stare before going on, whether I was still on the ground or not. After what must have been hours, I finally got to the point that I could jog ahead of Tori and Simon. I lingered behind Andrew as I tried to think of what to say to Derek.

It was funny, the Edison Group was hot on our trail, there was a bounty on my head, and my aunt Lauren might be dead, and all I could think of was the kiss that Derek and I had shared earlier that day. Had it really only been earlier that day? It felt like it happened decades ago. I was so caught up in everything that I didn't even noticed the subtle fall of night surround us.

"Where exactly is the overgrown canine taking us?" Tori said, not even trying to keep her voice down so that Derek couldn't hear. I opened my mouth to say something, but closed it. There really was no point in arguing with her.

"Derek, lets take a break here." Andrew said. It sounded more like a command than a request, but Derek slowed down and eventually came to a halt.

"I'm gonna go scout ahead, just in case." He announced before retreating into the trees. The moon was still full, and I could make out his bulky form as he walked ahead. Simon walked over to a tree root and brushed off some dirt before motioning for me to come over. I shook my head and tried to think of a polite way to sneak away.

"Thanks, but I have to go to the bathroom." I declined, pointing my thumb behind me. I heard Tori let out a disgusted sound, but Simon and I ignored her.

"No problem. I'll try to save you a spot, but I can't guarantee anything." Simon joked. I grinned slightly and made my way towards the direction that Derek had disappeared. I tied my horribly-dyed hair back in a pony-tail as I strained to hear his heavy footsteps, but couldn't hear a sound. For such a big guy, she could be quiet when he wanted to be. I almost let out a cry when I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"What are you doing?" Derek whispered severely. I spun around to face him.

"I need to talk to you." I answered bravely. He let out a sigh and removed his hand from my shoulder.

"I'm starting to not like our little talks." He said, turning away and walking farther into the bushes. I followed until he stopped beside a large oak tree and leaned against it.

"I j-just wanted t-to say th-that…" I stuttered. I had practiced what I was going to say a thousand times in my head, and yet I still tripped over the words like a child.

"I don't need your pity." Derek interrupted before I could get any more broken-up words out.

"What?" I asked in surprise.

"I said I don't need your pity. Like I said the other night, I don't need a girl to make me happy." I was shocked by his words, and it took a while for their meanings to sink in.

"You think I kissed you because I felt sorry for you?" I tried to stifle back a laugh. I'd heard a bunch of ridiculous stuff come out of Derek's mouth, but this topped everything. "You honestly think that I'd be willing to kiss a guy because they never had a girlfriend?" my disbelief was becoming anger. The whole conversation that I had planned in my head was taking a nasty turn. Derek just shrugged in response. I felt my eyeballs sting from embarrassment and heartbreak, but I held back the tears. I tried to turn away and walk off, but I couldn't let him think these things without giving him a piece of my mind.

"You really think you can read me like a book, don't you?" I asked, my voice rising higher. "You think that you know everything there is to know about me. Well you know what? I didn't kiss you because I felt sorry for you. I kissed you because it felt right." My words seemed cliché, but in my heart I knew they were the truth. We were both silent before I went on. "I kissed you because you're smart. Without you, we would've died so long ago, because none of us can plan ahead like you can. I did it because you're funny. Even in the scary moments, your little bit of humor manages to light me up. I did it because you're protective. When I'm with you, I feel as safe as possible with two werewolves bearing down on you, or guns being shot at you. When you're there, I know it might not turn out ok, and yet I feel as safe as can be." By the time I finished chewing him out, my cheeks were wet with tears. I looked down at the ground to try to hide it, even though I knew it was way too late.

I felt Derek's warm hand on my cheek, and the image of him pulling me towards him flashed in my mind. He lifted my chin to face him, but I desperately searched for something else to fix my eyes on. But, it was in vain, and I finally looked up into his face. There was something different in his features; they were softer, gentler. He wiped a few strands of black hair from my face, and I pictured a love scene in one of my favorite movies. Oh, what was the name of that stupid movie?

"We need to get back." Derek whispered and lowered his hand. He gave me a moment to wipe the tears from my face before turning around and heading back to the place where we had left the group.


	8. Chapter 8

I have to admit, I was completely confused. Did Derek like me or not? He put his hand on me so tenderly…but then he just left. I tried to push my conflicting thoughts from my mind as Simon motioned for me to sit down on the root with him. It felt horrible that in a way I was leading him on, and my heart screamed for me to tell him what had happened right then and there, but I bit my tongue. I decided to keep quiet, at least until I knew exactly what was happening.

"We need to keep going." Derek urged. To is dismay, Tori was not planning on budging.

"Slow down, dog-breath. We need more than five minutes of rest for the whole night." Tori lashed out, her tone sounding slightly stuck up. She put her hands on her hips in one of those stances that the posh girl usually does in one of those stupid reality shows.

"Don't call me that, Tori. Remember our agreement?" Derek said in a tone so low that it was almost a growl.

"Yeah, like you're going to just leave me in the middle of the woods." Tori snarled.

"Sounds like a good plan to me." Derek glared right back at her. His jaw was set and Tori's hands were in tight fists at her side, her small knuckles turning white. It looked as if they were about to come to blows.

"Both of you, stop it. I feel like I'm dealing with six-year-olds." Andrew interjected, standing between the two and looking severely at Derek, than at Tori. "We need to get along if we're going to get through this." Tori's fists loosened as Andrew stared into her eyes. "But Victoria does have a point. If we run ourselves ragged out here, there's no way we'll have the strength to face whatever is ahead of us." He then looked back to Derek, and Tori's expression changed to one of triumph as she folded her arms across her chest. Derek just rolled his eyes, turned around, and went back into the darkness of the forest. Andrew walked back to where he had been sitting before and proceeded to rub his sore feet.

I sighed. Derek was our strongest form of protection, but he refused to get any sleep. Even when he knew we were safe for the moment, he refused to go off watch. If he kept this up, he wouldn't even be able to keep his eyelids up, let alone defend us from werewolves or the Edison Group, or who knows what else. I jumped when Simon playfully pulled my ponytail. I looked over and was greeted by his perfectly straight teeth.

"What's with you? You're usually the cheery one, and yet you've been staring off into nothing all day." He said, the mischievous glint in his eyes turning into worry.

"It's just…so many things to think about. Aunt Lauren, the risk of waking up another dead person, Rae, the Edison Group…it's all way too overwhelming." I replied, looking up at the stars through a slight hole in the canopy. I wasn't really lying. I just wasn't planning on clueing him in on the part about Derek.

"Oh, like we've just been floating on clouds." Tori snapped sarcastically. She was even more bitter than usual, but who could blame her? She did have a point. Simon was always asking me what was wrong, while she just faded into the background.

"Tori--"

"She's not lying Simon," I cut him off before he could scold her "you guys are going through a bunch of crap too."

"Still, she doesn't have the right to treat you like that." He glowered at her, but she had already turned away and started going through a plastic grocery bag that she had used to carry a shirt and a toothbrush still in the package that she had found back at Simon and Derek's grandma's place.

I exhaled heavily before grabbing my own second sweatshirt from my bag and laying it across the cold ground like a picnic blanker. Even though I knew I couldn't sleep, I laid down on it, just to keep Simon from worrying. He settled down to my left, farthest away from the tree whose root we had just been sitting on. He rested his hands on his stomach and smiled at me, and I pictured how Derek had sat just before we—kissed. I blinked and the image was gone, leaving Simon's bright face in its place, which of course wasn't horrible, but it wasn't what I really wanted.

I remained on my back staring at the branches above us until I could hear the sound of Simon's level breathing, showing that he was asleep. I lifted my head and looked right over Simon to see Tori's form lying on the ground about ten feet away. I couldn't tell if she was asleep, but I didn't really care. I didn't think she was all too concerned with my safety.

I sat up and held my legs against my chest, resting my chin on my knees. Should I get up? I wasn't sure. All I knew was that sleeping wasn't an option. Not in the woods where I could raise god knows what from it's grave. I shuddered as I remembered the undead bird that shrieked so loudly as one of the Edison Group men shot it's head off.

I caught movement out of the corner of my eye, and turned to my right to see Derek standing beside the oak tree looking down at me with those emerald eyes.

"I thought you'd still be awake." He said, his voice not quite in a whisper, but not quite loud enough to make anyone wake up.

"Same for you." I stated without emotion. I was afraid that showing any type of feeling right now might lead me to tears again. Derek put out his hand and I took it, letting him pull me up to my feet. Our faces were so close together, and I could smell the faint scent of bay leaf on his breath. Images of my aunt Lauren and I making spaghetti filled my head, and I longed to be eight years old again. Not having to worry about ghosts or evil scientists or zombies. The thoughts emptied from my mind as Derek, still hanging onto my hand, led me past the oak tree. As I followed in his footsteps, I gave one last departing glance at the three sleeping bodies.


	9. Chapter 9

I noticed that Derek wasn't walking as fast as usual, but I couldn't tell if it was because he wanted me to walk with him or because he was tired. I didn't think about it too hard, as if thinking about his reasoning might cause him to stop. I wanted to go on like that forever, my hand in his, just walking as if there wasn't a care in the world.

We finally came to a huge stump that must've at least been four and a half feet in width. Derek let go of my hand and sat down, and I immediately craved the rough warmth of his palm against my own. I sat down next to him and joined him in silence. His thick fingers were laced together between his knees as he slouched. I tried to catch a glimpse of his face, but it was completely covered by the veil of his thick dark-brown hair.

"Did you mean it?" he asked, breaking the tranquility. An owl hooted in the distance before I understood exactly what he was referring to.

"Of course I did." I responded quietly. My voice seemed strange, so soft, like the squeak of a baby mouse.

"Well…I like you too." He mumbled under his breath, not even looking at me.

"What was that?" I asked, not completely sure I had heard him right.

"I said I like you too. Don't make a big deal out of it, ok?" he said. I felt like hopping on top of the stump we were sitting on and dancing with joy, but I contained myself.

"Really?" I asked as I tried to gather my wits.

"Yeah." He breathed and looked up at the sky. I saw for the first time since I met him that he had been blushing. I held in a giggle.

"So…what do we tell Simon?" I asked. I'd wanted to ask that question for so long.

"We're not gonna tell him," Derek answered quickly "not yet." He looked at me and must've seen my disappointment in my face. "For one, I'm not really ecstatic to tell my brother that I…like his…crush. Two, Being on the run from mad scientists isn't exactly my idea of a time to start a relationship." I smiled as I felt the presence of his hand over mine. I gave him a sideways glance and before I knew it, I was leaning over and giving him a kiss on the cheek. He went still and I thought he was going to say something, but he kept quiet as I withdrew.

"Why don't you get some sleep." He said with an awkward cough. I guess the whole girl thing was still a little new to him.

"Why don't you?" I countered.

"What?" He asked, sounding surprised that I wasn't just doing as he said. I thought he'd be used to it by now.

"You need you're sleep."

"But--"

"You're not changing, are you?"

"No, but--"

"Then you have no excuse." I said, standing up. He observed me as I walked around, bending over to get a good look at how level the ground was in certain places.

"What are you doing?" he asked as if I was pulling at my ears and sticking out my tongue.

"Looking for a spot for you to lie down," I said matter-of-factly "this looks like a good place." I motioned to a place I'd found between two small trees. He got up and walked over, examining the patch of land. He grunted and laid himself down. "You don't want a shirt to lay on or anything?"

"No. I'm good." He replied, resting on his back and putting his hands behind his head. I sat down in the narrow space next to him and wrapped my arms around my legs like I had when he had first found me.

"You don't have to be so afraid to go to sleep." Derek said suddenly, his eyes fixed on the deep blue sky. I looked down over my shoulder at him.

"What makes you say that?" I questioned.

"Because I'll be here to protect you if anything happens." He said as if the answer was obvious. His remark made me speechless, and I just kept staring at his face, illuminated by the brilliant shine of the moon. I longed to lie down next to him and stretch my arms across his broad chest, to run my slender fingers through his dark hair, to feel his warm body like a radiator next to mine.

"You need to be the one sleeping, not me." I finally responded. He exhaled, perhaps finally realizing that I wasn't going to be happy unless he rested himself.

"Wake me up if anything happens." He said, turning with his back to me.

"No, Derek. I'm going to fight the big guys with tranquilizers single-handedly." I said sarcastically. He grumbled in reply, and I could tell that he was exaughsted. His snores reached my ears within a matter of seconds. I watched as his side went up and down with each deep breath he took, and his words from earlier repeated in my head.

He had said that he didn't want to tell Simon that he liked his crush. I tried to think of any pairs of brothers that I had known that wouldn't want to rub their siblings' noses in the fact that they were dating their crush. I couldn't think of a single one. If anything, all of the brother's I knew would jump at the chance to do just the opposite. I realized that Derek and Simon were extremely close, and I wondered for a long time if I was an obstacle that would arise in their friendship once Simon found out.

I eventually forced myself to watch a small possum that was crawling up a tree a few yards away from where Derek and I were laying. It was no use to worry about these things, and I'd already spent most of my day confused and bothered.

I felt the hours creep by slowly, and I only found a few things to draw my attention to once the possum was out of site. There was an occasional barn owl, and sometimes I would hear the scritch-scratch of some small creature in a burrow. Though it was horribly boring, I was thankful that I wasn't seeing any ghosts. My eyelids were growing heavy, but I couldn't bring myself to wake up Derek. He was snoozing so peacefully for the first time in three days. Was it really only three days ago that we had been in the woods behind Andrew's house? All of the events seemed so long ago.

I was distracted from my thoughts when Derek stirred from his sleeping position and rolled over to face me. He let out a deep yawn and sat up with me. I noticed that his normally straight hair was now tousled, and almost wavy from being laid on for so long.

"It's still dark out…are you sure you don't want to sleep until morning?" I asked tiredly. He gave me a half-smile and shook his nappy head.

"I got my few hours of rest. Now it's your turn." He said.

"But what if I--" I tried to say, but Derek cut me off.

"I meant what I said before. I'll be here if anything happens." He pulled off his sweatshirt and handed it to me. "You can use this for a pillow. I don't really need it." To sleepy to fight back, I bunched his sweatshirt up and placed it neatly behind my head and rested on the cool earth. I stretched my legs out, which felt good after hours of hugging them to my body. I swore that I felt lips brush against my forehead as I shut my eyes and fell into a dark and much needed slumber.


	10. Chapter 10

I had to fight the urge to close my eyes as Derek gingerly shook me out of my dreamless sleep. Somehow, I kept my eyelids open and sat up. I looked up at Derek as he towered before me. He was dressed in his usual baggy jeans and a thin blue sweater. I realized that I still had his sweatshirt and I reached behind myself and retrieved it.

"They're not awake yet, but we need to get you back there before they do." Derek said, his hands stuffed into his pockets. I rubbed my neck and handed his sweatshirt back to him before getting on my feet. I nodded and he wordlessly started leading me back to the spot where we'd left Andrew, Simon, and Tori.

When we'd been walking for about three minutes, I had a strange feeling in my gut. The same panicked feeling you get when you feel like someone's watching you. I looked over my shoulder a couple of times, but saw nothing. Finally, the feeling became so strong that I swore I could hear the sound of heavy footsteps echoing in my ears.

"Derek…I feel like someone's watching us." I finally said as I came to a halt. He stopped about five feet in front of me before turning around and walking to my side.

"I know. He's been following us since we left." He said in an undertone so low that I could barely hear him. I started to open my mouth to say something, but Derek lurched forward, kissing my lips and silencing my protest. By the time he drew back, I had completely forgot what I had been planning on yelling at him. He rubbed my arms affectionately and leaned close to my ear. "It's ok. I'm leading him into a trap. Just act casual." I nodded, now understanding the meaning behind the sudden smooch. He took my hand and held it for a moment, seeming to admire how my small hand looked clutched in his.

"Well, how cute is this?" a gruff voice came from behind me. I gasped loudly as Derek whirled around. Before I knew it, Derek had the stalker pinned against a tree, his arms twisted painfully behind his back. As I got a closer look at his face, I was relieved and confused at the same time; it didn't look like any of the people from the Edison Group, or a guy with a gun. He just looked like a normal teenager.

He didn't look more than a year older than myself, with his shoulder-length blond hair pulled back in a ponytail, and a slight goatee. He was tall (though definantly not as tall as Derek), and his acne-covered skin was fairly pale. He wore a dirty white t-shirt and a green plaid over shirt. He looked like he could be your average guy at any high school.

"Derek, get off!" He cried as his face contorted from the pain. I placed my hand on Derek, but he didn't loosen his grip.

"Who are you?" Derek growled. "How the hell do you know my name?"

"That's one of the things I've been trying to figure out." The boy said through closed eyes and clenched teeth.

"Derek, you're hurting him!" I finally exclaimed, and Derek looked at me and then back at the boy. He backed away but held on to the boy's right arm firmly.

"Answer the question; who are you?" Derek interrogated in a voice a little bit softer than before, but not much.

"My name is Casey." He answered, sounding defeated, yet relieved that his face wasn't being smashed into a tree's rough bark anymore. Derek glared at him expectedly. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you how I knew your name." Derek and I exchanged looks, knowing full well that after everything we've been through, nothing seemed unbelievable.

"Try me." He asked. Casey sighed and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Call it intuition." He said, piercing Derek's green eyes with his own brown ones.

"Intuition?" I asked uncertainly. I'd never been one to believe in psychics, but I wasn't one to believe in ghosts and werewolves and sorcerers either, and now look where I was. Casey nodded.

"I know, I know. I'm full of crap. Whatever. Just let me go and I won't mess with you guys anymore." He said, still glaring at Derek.

"How do we know you're not going to go run and tell your little friends about us?" I asked. I didn't sense that he was all that dangerous, but I wasn't willing to put the idea of him being an Edison Group spy completely out of my head. Casey's head turned sharply to me, and he stared intensely at my face. About half a minute went by, Casey's eyes not blinking. They didn't even really look like they were looking at me, but it seemed as if he was staring inside me. A chill went down my spine.

"You're name is Chloe Saunders. You go to a drama school—but you don't want to be an actress. You think someone close to you is dead, but you're not sure. For the last couple of weeks, you've been on the run…I can't quite see from what…something that starts with an E." he hesitated "and you're favorite song is something by the Monkees." He blinked for the first time in over a minute and shook his head. I didn't say anything. The name and the school thing could be explained by the ads my dad had put in the paper, but everything else…

"If you're so innocent, why were you following us?" Derek asked. I put the matter to the back of my mind to hear Casey's answer.

"I…I was going rob you." Casey admitted, looking down at the ground. "It's not what you think, though. I need cash. I'm starving."

"Where do you live?" I asked, not utterly convinced. He shrugged.

"I don't really have any place. I ran away." He said, now standing up tall as if he was proud of the fact.

"What, your mommy forbid you from hanging out with your girlfriend?" Derek asked sarcastically. That honestly sounded like what most teenage boys would run away for. Casey turned and stared coldly at Derek.

"My mom and dad died two months ago. They put me in some nut house for teens. Apparently, I have klepto." He said.

"I'm sure they had some reasoning behind it." Derek said.

"I guess. They wouldn't tell me how my parents died, so I stole my their death certificates from the hospital." He answered. We were all quiet, unsure of what to say. "The certificates were blank, if you were wondering." He said, as if that was the main question filling our heads.

"Chloe? Derek?" we heard Simon shout through the woods. Derek cursed himself as he turned his face towards Simon's voice. That was all it took for Casey to get out of his grasp and up the closest tree. Derek turned around and glared at Casey as he sat on a low limb and flexed his arm that had been in Derek's grasp for so long.

"Seth or Simon's calling you." He called down casually from the tree. Derek looked at me desperately.

"I don't think he's lying." I said, though of course I wasn't sure.

"I didn't smell the Edison Group on him…" Derek said, glancing at Casey from the corner of his eye. "If you ever tell anyone about us--" He called up to Casey as I grabbed him by the arm and started walking towards the place where we had left everyone. We only walked a few steps when we heard the smack of Casey's feet clashing with the earth.

"Wait," he called desperately "don't go over there! It's not really Simon!"


	11. Chapter 11

Just to let you guys know, I replaced the tenth chapter with the right one. If you haven't read it yet, I'd recommend going back. Sorry about that, computer trouble. I'll check more carefully if the right one was submitted next time. =) Hope you enjoy

* * *

"What?" Derek asked as he spun around.

"It's one of those people you've been running away from…it's a trap." Casey panted.

"Why should we believe you? You just tried to rob us!" I said. I knew we shouldn't trust him, but I thought of what I hoped was a hologram of my aunt Lauren, and maybe it didn't sound a lot like Simon…

"I know, I know." He said shaking his head "If you don't want to trust me, then fine. I just couldn't let you guys walk into a trap before telling you." His tone sounded defeated, and he started walking back in the direction of the tree. Derek sniffed the air and looked where Casey was, and then back to the sound of Simon's supposed voice.

"I don't smell the Edison Group, but I'll go first, just in case he's telling the truth." Derek said and started walking. I tried to protest, but it was as if Derek was in another world. Suddenly, he stopped behind a low bush and then squatted down quickly.

"What is it?" I whispered as I joined him behind the undergrowth.

"It is Simon, I can smell him…I guess Casey was lying…" As Derek was about to stand up, he suddenly went rigid. His eyes grew wide as he sniffed the air again and again. "Ramon and Liam." He finally whispered and ducked down lower behind the bush. If they were behind all of this, then what was Simon doing? Had he been tortured and forced to call us to our deaths? He would never betray us…right?

"There's no point in staying here. They've definantly already smelt me. You just need to get Simon and get out of here. Go to any crowded place and they won't follow you there. I'll try to meet back up with you guys…somewhere." Derek whispered the whole plan to me, and my heart felt as if it had been pierced.

"No, Derek. I'm not going to be your little damsel in distress. I'm not running away." I said defiantly. There was no way I was leaving him hear to be killed by two nut job werewolves. When he didn't answer, I opened my mouth to say something, but he turned his eyes to me.

"Chloe. You're strong. I know that. I know you can take care of yourself…you've taken care of me enough." His eyes glistened, as if with tears, but I dismissed the thought of Derek crying—it just wasn't something he'd do. "I'm not going to let them hurt you…or anyone else. Promise me if it looks bad, you'll run."

"No, Derek--"

"Promise me." I stared at him, trying to decide what to do. He said if things looked bad to run, which meant that I might have a chance to help him.

"Ok." I said. With that, Derek kissed my forehead and stood up, charging through the bushes and straight at Simon. Simon turned around, an expression of shock on his face. He didn't even have time to shout before a figure rushed from behind him at Derek, knocking him to the ground. Their two forms were scrambled together as limbs flew through the air, but I could tell by the shape that Liam was the one attacking.

I scanned the ground desperately for anything that I could use to knock Liam off of Derek, but found nothing. Helplessly, I ran over to Simon, who looked as if he was going to have a heart attack as he watched the horrible scene unfold in front of us. Liam was now on top of Derek, pinning him to the ground with his body and punching him hard in the face.

"Derek!" Simon screamed once he found his voice. He stepped forward, and was about to grab Liam, but I pulled him back. It was great that Simon wanted to help—but I didn't think he knew that Liam was a werewolf that could tear him up in a matter of seconds.

Derek lie motionless on the ground under Liam, and I felt tears well up in my eyes. Liam punched a few more times—either he liked to beat up on people who were already down, or he hadn't realized Derek had stopped moving—and stopped, grinning down at his victim.

"Looks like your mate's down for the count, Blondie." Liam announced, looking up at me, his bloody fists still raised. I shivered and Simon draped his arm across my shoulders—as if that was going to keep the werewolf away from me. "Looks like the Pack's going to have a word with you after all, huh big boy?" Liam taunted as he leaned closely over Derek's face. Suddenly, Derek opened his eyes and craned his neck fast, grabbing Liam's large nose between his teeth. Liam yelped from pain and surprise and leaped backwards. Derek pushed him off of his own body and pinned his left arm and chest to the ground with his powerful arms.

Blood gushed from Liam's face, and I cupped my hand over my mouth, thinking that Derek had bitten Liam's nose clean off. My heart skipped a beat when Liam lifted his one free arm and wiped away some of the blood, revealing that his nose was still attached to his face. I didn't notice until the last second that Ramon was sneaking up behind Derek. He jumped on his back, toppling him to the ground beside Liam, who then stood up shakily.

I felt as if I should be jumping in, throwing Ramon off of Derek's shoulders and running for all of our lives, but I knew that was all a dream. In fact, it all felt like a dream. A horrible, hazy dream. Everything seemed to be going in slow motion; Ramon's bulky fist as it collided with Derek's cheek, the sound of Liam's shouts of encouragement, even Derek's pleading eyes seemed to lock with mine slowly. I exhaled, knowing that I had to keep my word to him. Just as I was about to start dragging Simon away, there was a rumble from the bushes.

Casey ran from the bush, a long, metal pole in his hands. He jumped up and brought down the pole across the back Ramon's head with all of his strength. Blood splattered and I heard myself scream. Everything started speeding up at the right rate again.

Derek threw Ramon's unconscious body to the side and leaped to his feet, not even seeming to be weak from his injuries. I couldn't help but smile. It looked like Derek was going to be ok after all. I shrieked as I was pulled roughly from Simon's grasp and held in a headlock. I didn't have to look behind me to know it was Liam.


	12. Chapter 12

I tried to call out for them to run, but my voice was muffled by Liam's grimy hand against my face. "Either you're coming with us, or she's coming with us. You're choice big boy." He snarled at Derek as he froze, his eyes locked on my face. I could only imagine my own terrified face as I felt Liam's chest move up and down as he panted into my hair. "Times running out." Liam said, leaning close to me and nibbling on my left earlobe. I couldn't keep myself from shuddering as I imagined what was going through his sick head.

"I'll go." Derek said, rising his hand towards us. "But you have to let her go first."

"I don't think you're in any position to be making any of the demands." Liam answered. What the hell was Derek doing? One, I knew he wasn't going to let me go just like that; everyone knew. Two, I didn't want him to be a hero. Simon, Andrew, and Tori all needed him way more than they needed me.

I decided I needed to act. Fast. I closed my eyes and prepared to bite down hard on Liam's middle finger. I knew it probably wouldn't do much, but at least it might buy us a little bit of time.

I had only just started digging my teeth into Liam's disgusting finger when he fell forward on top of me. I was being squished into the ground as Liam gasped for air on top of me. I caught a glimpse of Tori as she kicked Liam hard in the side, rolling him off of me. I had been saved by Tori, of all people! Tori held out her hand and I took it gratefully, though I couldn't believe what had just happened.

"This way." I heard Derek's gruff voice demand. He didn't have to say it twice!

* * *

The next hour or so of running seemed to go by in two minutes. All I remember is sprinting through the woods, not even feeling my feet hit the ground. At times there were pathways, but we often ran through, not sure where we were going. At first, I thought that I heard the sound of heavy footsteps, Liam and Ramon chasing us. But, they soon faded into the distance, either that or I was too busy running for my life to notice them anymore.

Derek did stop once at a small creek and cupped the cool water in his hands. He splashed it all over his face, not even flinching at the intense cold. The dried blood drizzled down his face, and he wiped it away. The break wasn't long though, and we kept going. Even though it was at a slower pace, we were keeping good time.

We finally started slowing down when we were able to hear the heavy sound of traffic and we could see a small playground through the gaps in the trees.

"Ok, head count. Tori, Simon, Chloe…where's Andrew?" Derek asked. He pointed to each of us as he said our names, though he obviously stopped at Andrew, who was nowhere to be seen.

"He was gone when we woke up. We assumed he was with you guys." Simon said, now looking about us worriedly. We all looked around, as if searching for him would made him magically appear.

"Andrew…did he have dark hair, glasses?" Casey asked while making motions with his hands. We all stared at him. I hadn't even realized he had followed us.

"Yeah…where is he and who the heck are you?" Tori asked, crossing her arms in her usual gesture.

"Casey Green." He answered, sticking his hand out for her to shake. "Nice to meet you." He said the words in a flirty way, and I found myself rolling my eyes. Tori of course made a disgusted face and turned away, leaving Casey's outstretched hand empty in the air. Casey put it down, looking like his ego had just taken a deep plunge. "Your friend left around four this morning. He just got up, picked up a few things, and left." We all looked at each other, and I saw panic in Simon's eyes.

"That doesn't help us much. Why did you follow us?" Simon questioned as he cleared his throat and wiped his dirty palms on his jeans. The whole time Derek just stood, staring, as if he was in a whole different world.

"Well, I kinda saved your lives, so I figured you wouldn't mind if I tagged along." Casey answered, leaning up against a nearby pine tree "Plus, I wasn't really planning on sticking around to see if those two would invite me to their birthday party." Simon looked at me, as if expecting me to say something. I shrugged. Casey did have a point. If he hadn't came in and bashed Ramon over the head with that pipe, Derek would be on his way to Albany, and we'd all be lost in the middle of the woods. Letting him come with us seemed like the least we could do, even if he tried to rob us.

"He has a point." Derek said, finally shaking himself from his trance. Casey gave a triumphant smile. "But we need to get some more information on you. We'll talk later. I'm going to go get something for us to eat." Derek dug around in his right pocket of his jeans. He brought his hand up empty, as we all knew he would. Simon suddenly reached into his own pocket and pulled out a wad of the green paper. Seeing our surprised faces, he shrugged.

"Andrew gave me some cash when we were at grandma's house." He said, unfolding the money and counting it. I saw that there were at least five twenties. "How much are you going to need? Do you need me to go with you?" he asked, and I could see he was trying to change the subject. Derek just looked at him gravely and shook his head. I wondered if he looked sad because Andrew was missing, or because he didn't trust him to carry money. Simon handed him two twenties, and he just turned around and made his way through the gap. I looked from face to face, only getting an awkward stare back in response.

"Ok," I sighed "Casey, tell us your story."


	13. Chapter 13

As I bit into my subway sandwich, I thought over all of the facts that Casey had given us. According to him, his whole drama story started when he dreamt of his parents being kidnapped and killed by some people who had been trying to convince them to put Casey in a special home that would 'hone' his powers. His dream had been true. A doctor that called himself Dr. Johnston came to his school to apparently help him deal with his loss. After he had done some 'therapy' sessions with Casey, he had diagnosed him as a kleptomaniac and sent him to a house for teens with problems—just like Lyle House, except it was in Ohio. Somehow, Casey had managed to hitch hike his way all of the way to New York on his own. We'd already discovered a pattern with all of us at Lyle House, but the thought of there being Lyle Houses all over America seemed unimaginable.

"Why did you tell us that it wasn't Simon that was calling us, when it obviously was?" Derek questioned, drawing my attention back to the conversation at hand.

"Sometimes I get mixed messages. I was right about the trap part though." Casey answered plainly. Derek nodded before taking a bite of his own sandwich. I racked my brain for a question to ask, but there seemed to be none. Casey had been officially interrogated.

"What were you guys doing out in the forest?" Tori finally asked, scanning Derek and I. I bit my tongue, worrying that if I opened my mouth, I'd spill the whole story.

"Chloe was looking for a dead animal or something to summon, just to test out her powers. I was helping her find one, since neither of us could sleep." Derek thankfully answered for both of us. I breathed a sigh of relief into the cold air and wrapped my sweatshirt tighter around my body. I just happened to glance over at Casey and saw his confused face; he must've been watching us a little longer than we thought. "Chloe is a necromancer, a.k.a a ghost whisperer." He said. I almost laughed at myself; Casey hadn't been wondering about Derek's lie, but about me 'summoning' things. Or at least, that's what I hoped.

Casey scanned me and nodded. "Ok…so I told you guys my story, what's yours?" he asked. We all exchanged looks, as if still not sure if we could tell him the truth. When none of us answered, Casey looked over at Tori, scanning her eyes in the same way that he had mine hours ago. Tori looked at him as if there were snakes crawling out of his ears. Finally, Casey spoke. "Lyle House…that's kind of like Carlton House, the place they put me. There has to be some kind of connection." Tori opened her mouth wide, and then shut it again. I guessed she hadn't been totally convinced before that Casey was a clairvoyant.

"So you're a witch? That's interesting. I've always liked the name Victoria." He said, smirking at Tori. Yet again, she gave him a grossed-out look and turned away. This time, she looked up at the stars, staring at the tiny white spheres as if she could escape the world and all of her troubles on them. "Are you guys going to tell me what's going on, or am I going to have to read all of you?" Casey asked, and Tori looked away from the sky, glaring at him.

"Where to start?" Simon asked.

"How about your reason to run away from the funny farm." Casey answered.

"We found out that the Lyle House kept supernaturals for experimentation and killed them off whenever their methods backfired." Derek said. I looked down at the earth, remembering the fear in my heart when Liz was taken away.

"They killed some of the kids while you were there?" Casey's eyes widened as he crumpled his sandwich paper into a tight ball in his fist. Derek nodded and Casey gazed off into nothing.

"They had been planning on taking me somewhere after…after I tried to run away the first time and got caught. I guess they were going to…" Casey's voice trailed off into the cold air surrounding us.

"Who's that guy?" I jumped as I heard a voice from behind me. Even though it was familiar, I hadn't been expecting it.

"We found him in the woods. It's a long story." I answered, and everyone turned to stare at me, reminding me of the embarrassing moment when I realized I'd been talking to a ghost and everyone had started laughing at me.

"Liz?" Derek asked, and I nodded in response. Casey's blonde eyebrows were the only ones that remained furrowed as I continued my conversation.

"Anything to report?" I asked Liz as she stood with her arms crossed right next to where Casey was standing.

"I saw where Andrew went. You guys need to figure out a plan, fast." Liz said, her tone now turning urgent.

"What?" Simon asked, seeing my now scared expression.

"Andrew isn't who you guys thought. He's working for the Edison Group."

* * *

I felt my head spin as I tried to wrap my head around the idea that Andrew would betray us. I guess it shouldn't be so much of a shock, since I was also betrayed by Rae, but it still stung just as much as it had the first time.

"What happened? How do you know?" I asked.

"I was looking for you when I saw Andrew get up last night. I followed him back to Simon's grandma's house. There, he met up with Rae and they got picked up by some of the other Edison Group. I think he told them where you guys were before, and I tried to rush back to tell you, but by the time I got there, you were all gone." Liz said, then exhaled. I didn't know what to say.

"What is it?" Simon asked, walking over and touching my arm.

"Andrew's a traitor. He went back to the house and met up with the Edison Group. If we hadn't ran this morning, they would've caught us. They're still hot on our trail." I answered, staring into Derek's eyes, looking for some comfort. Simon glanced over to where I was staring, and Derek broke our eye contact.

"No…Andrew wouldn't do something like that…he's like family to us…" Simon stuttered.

"If this is all true, that means they might still be looking for us in the forest. We need to get out of here." Derek said, and, with that, we all followed him out into the open for the first time in three days.


	14. Chapter 14

My breath came out in cotton balls in the freezing night air, and I pulled my hood closer over my face, hoping that maybe that would keep the people who were passing by us on the pavement wouldn't look close at my face. Thankfully, it was late and there weren't many people. But, occasionally there would be a couple holding hands, or a man jogging and walking his dog. Though none of them took a second glance at me, I felt as if their eyes scanned my entire body until the sound of their footsteps faded into the distance.

I expected Simon to be holding my hand to console me, but he wasn't even walking next to me. I worried a little bit about what was wrong, but there were a lot more important problems at hand than what a boy was thinking about me. I was surprised when Tori started walking next to me. I figured I knew what she wanted.

"Thanks a lot for what you did to Liam." I said, stuffing my hands into the pink pocket of my sweatshirt. Tori looked over at me strangely for a moment before she realized what I was referring to.

"No problem. You're the damsel in distress, so of course, it was my duty." She said. I couldn't stop myself from scowling as I shifted my gaze to watching Casey's short, blonde ponytail as it wagged with every stepped he took. Tori nudged me slightly with her elbow. "That was just a joke. Sorry, I guess I've been pretty nasty to you lately." I didn't look at her, but she probably knew that my forehead crinkled from confusion; since when did Tori care if she was nasty to me. She sighed and walked ahead. I figured that was as much that I was going to get out of her. Casey stopped abruptly, almost making Tori run into him.

"Watch out, Willy Nelson." Tori said with a frown as she backed up.

"The best place for us to stay would be over there." Casey said, ignoring Tori's comment and pointing to a boarded up storehouse. I squinted at the old sign above the entrance and saw that it used to be one of those 'Joann's' stores that my mom had liked to go to so much. She'd always liked doing crafts.

"What do you mean 'the best place for us to stay'? Did you have a vision or something?" Simon asked as he brought his right hand through his spiky blonde hair. You could tell that he needed a shower, but then again we all did. Even Tori's seemingly perfect hair was starting to look greasy and ill kept.

"When I look at it, I see our faces and a green light. I've learned from experience it means that it's a good place to stay." Casey said, not even looking over at Simon as he started walking across the dark street to the run-down craft store.

"What about when there's a bad place?" Simon called as he started walking across the street too, looking quickly both ways before he did so. Casey didn't answer, but we all followed them across the black pavement. It was pitch black, since the full moon hadn't decided to show its pretty face that night. I must've stumbled on a rock. I put my arms out in front of me to catch myself, but Derek caught me just in time and helped me to my feet.

"Thanks." I said, seeing his green eyes seeming to glow in the darkness. His arm slipped along mine, and my eyes grew wide as I felt just how slick his skin was. "Derek, you're--" Derek covered my mouth with his sweaty hand, looking over at Simon, Casey, and Tori to see if they'd heard. They were way too busy exploring the area around the building. He looked back at me, I couldn't see anything but the outline of his face, but his green eyes were pleading.

"I know, I know. Don't worry." He said. I opened my mouth in protest, but he was already walking towards our group. I stomped after him, knowing that everyone was going to see his change eventually, whether he wanted them to or not.

"Well, this is great." Tori said, hands on her hips "You lead us to a safe house, and then, when we get there, your too weak to even get us in." she complained as Casey gripped one of the many boards covering the door to the building and leaned backwards, trying to pull one off. It bent, and snapped slightly, but he had to stop and take a breath. Simon couldn't even seem to get a board to move.

"Why don't you come over here and try it, princess." Casey said between pants. By his tone, I could tell that Tori had already managed to annoy the heck out of our newcomer. Tori wrinkled her nose as if she had smelt a rotten fish, and didn't take a step towards the two struggling boys. Derek walked between Casey and Simon and started pulling boards off as if they were Popsicle sticks. Casey stared, astonished at Derek's strength.

"Ok…she's a witch, she's a necro-panther or whatever, but what the hell are you?" he asked, pointing at Tori and I while brushing some of the wooden splinter that were flying through the air off of his shirt. Derek didn't answer as he broke one of the many boards in half with his knee. I wasn't really sure what the use of that was, but I wasn't planning on telling him to stop. Casey sighed when Derek didn't answer, but he didn't try to read him. I think he was a little bit too tired for it.

"Get in. I'll get rid of the boards so it looks slightly less suspicious," Derek said, gathering a few of the wooden planks in his arms and moving out of the doorway "and remember, we're only staying here tonight. There's too much of a risk of someone noticing us." With that, Derek started walking behind the building. Tori made a face and started moving her mouth up and down, imitating Derek's parent-like commands. I smacked her arm playfully, but I couldn't help but smirking at her immaturity. She giggled and looked over at me, her straight teeth glowing in the darkness. We looked at each other for a minute before she turned away, following the guys into the building. Had we just had a 'bonding moment' or was the lack of sleep getting to my head?

I walked dazedly into the abandoned store, and I could feel myself swaying from sleepiness. I hadn't felt so tired outside, but being in a place with a roof over my head apparently made me feel tired. I must've jumped three feet in the air when a flashlight burned a hole in the dark abyss.


	15. Chapter 15

"Sorry." Casey apologized when he heard my surprised yelp echo through the empty building. At least, it was mostly empty. There were a few empty racks and a row of the metal filing cabinets that hold dress patterns and stuff.

"Where'd you get that?" Tori asked as Casey walked over to a dusty corner and sat down.

"You thought I'd just run away without any way to see in the dark?" Casey asked, looking up at Tori. She just shook her hand and took a seat a few feet away from him.

"Wanna sit over here?" Simon asked, motioning a spot on the other side of Casey. I shrugged and walked over to him. I guessed it had just looked like he had been avoiding me, since he laid his hand gently across mine. I smiled up at him, and he winked at me.

"Do we have any idea what we're doing next?" Derek asked as he stormed in, shutting the door behind him. I didn't like that it was so utterly dark, and the only light came from Casey's tiny flashlight.

"I didn't want to say this before, since there wee other people around to hear, but I know where their headquarters is." Casey said, the beam of his flashlight shining in Derek's face. Derek put his hand in front of his face to shield his eyes from the light as he squatted down next to Tori. "Dr. Johnston thought I was taking the medication to stop me from being able to read him. He was wrong. It's in Buffalo, where you guys were before. Did you guys say you were actually in the building?" Casey asked, switching the light of his flashlight at me, Tori, and then back at me.

"Yeah. Not for very long, though. And I really don't think it would be too smart to go back to that place. That's where we've been running from." I said, not wanting to believe that we'd have to go to that god-forsaken place again if we were going to make it. "I looked through some of the files on Dr. Davidoff's computer. It only had information on Lyle House. No one there has ever even mentioned Carlton House." Casey's brown eyes looked at me, and I thought he was trying to read me again, but he was just deep in thought.

"I know it's possible for me to be mistaken, but didn't you say that there were rooms that you didn't see?" he asked. I nodded. "I think it's worth a shot."

"That would be a perfect plan if we had capes and could fly all of the way back to that place." Tori scowled sarcastically.

"Well, excuse me, Queen of Darkness," Casey said "but do you have any better ideas?" Queen of Darkness…he saw the scene when I was talking to Derek two days ago. I fidgeted as I pictured what else he knew. It was quiet for a minute before Derek cut into the conversation.

"So we're starting on our way to tomorrow." Derek said and walked over by the door. "We all need rest, and we don't have time to discuss a plan." He said as he lay down, facing the wall. We were all pretty much speechless. It was such an abrupt end to our plan.

"I guess its lights out." Casey said as he clicked off his flashlight. I heard Casey and Tori scrambling across the floor and trying to get comfortable, which I knew wouldn't be easy on the freezing linoleum. Simon and I didn't even move.

"I've been thinking about what you said a while back." Simon whispered in my ear. His warm breath felt good on my freezing ear, and I was reminded of the second time I'd helped Derek change and he protected me from the cold. God, everything seems to be reminding me of Derek. "I understand that I was going way too fast. Plus, it isn't exactly a great situation, and--"

"It's fine, Simon." I said, stopping him before he started making me feel even worse about my feelings for Derek. Simon was just so sweet, and I hated that in a way I had betrayed him. I felt like I was turning into Andrew or Tori. "Don't worry about it." I whispered back as I willed my eyes to adjust to the complete darkness. I felt his hand slide up and down on my arm, as if to heat it.

"You're probably pretty tired. I'll be right here if you need me." Simon said as he lay down on his side, his back against the wall. I sighed. Great. I'd been so tired before, but now that I actually had the opportunity to sleep, I felt wide-awake. Funny how irony works, huh?

I scooted myself along the wall, trying to be absolutely silent so I wouldn't stir Simon. Once I got a few paces away, I started thinking about the plan. How would we get there? We couldn't hitchhike, people all throughout New York probably knew my face, and the hair dye was obviously fake. I subconsciously felt the back of my head.

How would we get passed everyone? Sure we could send Liz there, but it would be putting us all in jeopardy just to go near that place. Then again, what way could we get rid of that evil place without being put in danger? I closed my eyes; I didn't want to think about it anymore. I stared into the darkness, trying to make my mind blank, but it was a lot harder than you'd think.

Somehow, my stressed mind wandered to the scene of Derek and I in the forest. I could practically feel his hand on my jaw, drawing me in closer to kiss him. How I longed to be there again, feeling his nose beside mine, our faces fitting together like huge puzzle pieces.

There had to be something more to this whole thing. I'd had so many crushes before, and yet nothing ever felt nearly as good as Derek's lips against my own. No music sounded nearly as good as his voice when he called out my mind. No boy holding my hand had ever made me feel so…safe. So secure. No words had ever made my soul shake. It was more than I had ever experienced. I was shocked from my thoughts by something touching my shoulder.

"Simon?" I whispered, but didn't get the response I was expecting.

"Not quite." I heard an older voice say. I brought my knees up to my chest, and felt hot panic seep into my heart. Confusion swept through me, and I was about to stand up when the voice spoke again.

"It's Kit." The voice said. Relief filled my heart, and I smiled broadly.

"Oh my gosh, you couldn't have come at a better time! We need to wake up Derek and--"

"I'm sorry to say that won't be necessary." Kit said. I inhaled sharply when I reached out to where the voice was coming from, but felt nothing but the cold air.

"You're…no, you can't be…we need you." My voice sounded strange and shrill, but I couldn't help it. Kit couldn't be dead, he couldn't be.

"I'm sorry to bug you so late at night, but apparently you're the only one that can see me." I felt like I was dropping into an endless black hole. The one person in the world who could help us—was dead.

"What did they do to you?" I asked.

"You don't need to worry about that. Listen, that Casey kid is right. There's a secret room on the other side of the building you were kept in. That's where they have all of the information from all of the houses across the U.S." Kit said. "I just felt like I needed to tell you so you guys would have a decent chance. I'll be back sometime tomorrow. Tell the boys I love them."

"Wait!" I said in an angry whisper, but Kit had already gone. I tried to feel the air around me, to see if there was any essence, and yelped when my hand hit something solid and warm.

"Are you ok? Were you talking to Liz?" Derek gruff voice murmured as he put his hand lightly over mine, which covered the left part of his face.

"No." I said, trying to hide the shakiness in my voice. I felt like crying. We'd tried so hard to find Kit, only to have him die on us. I felt anger, though I knew it was wrong. I felt grief for a man I'd never met. A man that could've helped us so very much. As much as I tried to keep it in, the tears ran down my face. "It was Kit…he's dead." I said and then fell into Derek's chest. He ran his right hand through my hair as his left held me close.

"Shhhh. It's ok, shhhh." He coed, and my sobs started to subside. I couldn't believe how dramatic I was being. I should've been the one comforting Derek; it was his father who died.

"I'm sorry…I'm acting stupid. Why—why aren't you sad?" I stammered, sitting up a little and wiping the tears from my eyes.

"You're not stupid. And I am sad. It's just…I'm shocked." He said, and I could tell that his voice didn't seem as strong as usual.

"He wanted me to say that he loved you." I said, sniffing and burying my head in his chest again. I couldn't help it; it felt so right, his arms around me, telling me everything was going to be ok. I realized right there that nothing in my life before had truly mattered. Sure I was going to a drama school, sure I had money, but none of that meant anything. I never belonged there, living in an apartment with a nanny, hardly ever even seeing my own father. Here, in Derek's arms, was where I belonged.


	16. Author's Note

I know I left it on a cliff-hanger. I am planning on making a sequel if enough people think I should (the chapters were starting to get confused, plus I didn't want people losing interest). My sequel will be called "Belonging" (corny, I know), and I might even start posting today if I have time and people think I should. So…hope you guys liked it so far =).


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